


Heartbreak and Something More

by 1cobaltDream



Series: Heartbreak and Something More [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2017-12-31 23:41:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1037779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1cobaltDream/pseuds/1cobaltDream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which there is a break up, a desperate brain trust is formed, Kiba is coming to terms with his sexuality, Neji is a kinky freak, Ino and Sakura are master minds and Naruto is wondering where his choice in friends had gone wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Heart Breaker

**Author's Note:**

> Is it a song-fic? Could be; I would highly suggest listening to the song “Nothing Better” by the Postal Service seeing as how this fic is heavily influenced by it. Some of the lyrics to the song are actually used in this fic. Other than that Where Are You by Betty Steels is a really good one.

His heart was breaking, he could feel it slowly crack and splinter, chipping away as Sasuke’s words cut deep, flaying and destroying any chance at happiness he ever had. Perhaps he thinks, perhaps he’s slipped into a nightmare, that could be the only explanation he could come up with. One moment they were sitting happily across from each other, choosing their drinks and the next, Sasuke drops this nuclear bomb on him without a drip of remorse for the short and long term damage this was going to cause him.

“It’s over.” Sasuke says his voice tight and his lips set in a thin line as he maintained eye contact with the silent blonde across from him. The café was almost empty save for the young group of people sitting three tables away, chattering among themselves, completely unaware of the break-up currently commencing.

“I’ve already had my things moved from the apartment,” Sasuke continues, clearing his throat in vain to gain the still silent blonde’s attention, “of course not that you would notice.” He says with a touch of bitterness peppering his cool tone.

Too shocked to even twitch much less respond, Naruto Uzumaki could only watch and silently scream as the love of his life attempted to end their ten-year relationship and demolish 12 years of friendship/rivalry.

_Of course I noticed!_ Naruto screamed internally, though his face producing the same blankness that any Uchiha would be jealous of. It was true, over the past year he had noticed that slowly, Sasuke’s clothes had been disappearing, his things becoming scarce in their shared apartment. Naruto had thought nothing of it though, merely thinking that Sasuke was throwing out old clothes and making room for more, throwing out or moving old accessories with the intention of getting new ones. Sasuke was rich, Naruto wasn’t, and he had figured that this was what rich people did with their stuff.

Apparently not.

They had been the best of friends and rivals for 12 years, starting at the tender age of 5 until that bloomed into love when they were sixteen at the back of an alleyway nursing wounds from a recent fight with students from another school that they had won. It was like a twisted, bloody form of a fairytale love story; Naruto had been ambushed on his way home and it was in the middle of the fight when his ass decided to butt-dial his best friend.  On the verge of getting his ass handed to him on a silver, albeit slightly bloodied, platter by 6 senior-high school football players, Sasuke swooped in seemingly from nowhere and delivered an ass-whooping unlike any Naruto had ever seen. And when it was all said and done, their enemies crawling away, bloody and black with the occasional broken limb, Naruto had one of the biggest epiphanies ever bestowed upon man. Sasuke almost seemed surreal to him, spitting out a mouthful of spit mixed with blood, a bruise blooming on his pale cheek, fists bloodied and bruised and lips quirked in a smug smirk as he watched the pathetic excuses for seniors crawl away.

Naruto doesn’t think he’s ever seen anyone else look so horrendously beautiful.

When Sasuke turned to help his friend to his feet, extending his bruised and bloodied hand, just like that Naruto took his hand and laid one right on him. Right there, all bloodied and bruised Naruto smashed his cracked lips against Sasuke and refused to let go until Sasuke kissed him back.

Which he did.

After that, walking back to Sasuke’s car (which he drove far too recklessly to be legal and left running and half parked on the curb near the alley way in his haste to aid his rival turned best friend turned boyfriend.) Naruto never once took his eyes off Sasuke; Sasuke who Naruto was pretty sure had a broken knuckle, courtesy of punching one of the seniors far too hard on the jaw.

_“I wore them down,” Naruto had said, “You just finished them off.”_

_Sasuke rolled his eyes and dug his fingers into one of Naruto’s bruises, smirking at the high pitched screech that Naruto let out, “Whatever, loser.”_

Of course Naruto only fell deeper in love when he found out that Sasuke had been at a dinner party with his parents and some other business partners when he answered his phone (a call he was very near not answering as it would have been rude). When he heard the muffled fight occurring and Naruto’s grunts of pain, Sasuke took off; he had opened the window and scaled the building until he made it to the ground and took off running to his car, leaving behind and infuriated father, a curious brother and an amused mother; they had been on the 6th floor.

Naruto wasn’t about to lose that.

There was a frown on Sasuke’s face as he sighed and began to gather his things; Naruto had taken too long to respond. His silence told Sasuke that he was completely fine and on board with this tough decision. A horrid feeling descended on his stomach as it begins to dawn on him just how little Naruto cared about him and this relationship.

“It’s over, Naruto.” Sasuke says solemnly around the knot that leaped into his throat, a sense of resignation washing over him.

Of course, he should have known that _nothing_ ever goes quite as planned when it involves a certain Uzumaki.

“No.” That single word rang true and Sasuke was left gaping as he saw a certain fierceness emerge seemingly out of nowhere and a fire-storm emerged in the form of two piercing blue eyes.

“… _Excuse_ me?” Sasuke asked incredulously, perfectly shaped eyebrows arching. He tried to deny the small warm feeling that slowly began to emerge in the pit of his belly at the sight of Naruto’s fierce look, he hadn’t seen it for some time and seeing it now- it was like seeing the sun for the first time after being left out in the cold darkness.

Naruto folded his arms and glared down his almost-ex, jaw setting tight and voice never once wavering as he sets him straight.

“I said no, it’s not over. In fact, it’s not even _close_ to being over. Wanna know why?” Naruto leans forward then, eyes narrowing just that much, “Because you and I,” he gestures wildly with his hands, “are in love, one day we are going to get married and we are going to spend the rest of our lives together. I will love you until the end of our days and you are going to love me just as much no matter how much of a dick you are about it.” His voice began to rise along with his determination and small spike of anger because honestly? This was bull-shit. He wasn’t going to let Sasuke go so easily. “And even when you’re sick of me, which I can see is happening now; you’ll _still_ love me because that’s what love is all about. We bicker, we fight, people are always trying to get in between us, your father hates my guts and detests the very air I breathe. Plus he’s tried to stab me on more than one occasion and I’m pretty sure your mother has tried to poison me once or twice.”

“My mother would never-!”

“I was throwing up for two whole days after eating the “special ramen” she made _especially_ for me!” Naruto screeched. “I remember quite vividly how she was adamant about you not taking a _single_ bite! Thank god I built up an immunity to poison because of my paranoid and admittedly slightly crazy Godfather! And don’t even get me _started_ on that psychotic brother of yours!”

Naruto leans forward and grasps Sasuke’s hand, trying to convey every single drop of emotion that ran ramped through his heart.

“Look, Sasuke, the world turns against us more than five times a week but at the end of the day it always just boiled down to only you and me; no one else.” Naruto continues, “Now, finish your tea because we are going to go home, I’m _not_ going to bitch slap you for being so stupid and I _might_ even sleep on the couch so you can sulk in our bedroom for a few days while this whole situation can disappear and never _ever_ resurface again. And once that’s done we’ll have lots and lots of sex and you’ll realize that you still love me and all of our problems will be laid out on the table and we can talk about why the _fuck_ you think leaving me was such a _fantastic_ idea.”

“Hold it right there!” Sasuke interjects by ripping his appendage back, slamming his hands down on the table, their cups rattling by the violent action, “that is not how it’s going to go down!”

“Then tell me!” Naruto snaps, “tell me what you want! Tell me what’s wrong! I’ll fix it!”

“It’s not that simple!”

“Why isn’t it? Have I done something? Have I made you angry? Is there-!” he cuts off here, voice cracking as dread begins to fill him, “-Is there someone else?”

Absolute silence reigns over the café, the young group of teenagers stared in anticipation for Sasuke’s answer, the waitress standing behind the counter, unwilling to interrupt their conversation to suggest that they take their argument outside.

At Sasuke’s silence a wiry smile stretches across Naruto’s slightly chapped lips, deadly and heartbreaking all at once, “There is, isn’t there?”

“No,” Sasuke sighs, “but there might be.”

Naruto tenses at his response and his hands that were resting over his thighs tightened into white fists as anger courses through his veins like poison, setting his body on fire.

“Who is he?” Naruto growls, voice dangerously low.

“No one you kn-“

“Who is he?!” Naruto snaps, slamming his hands down on the table, tipping over his empty cup of coffee and sending it crashing to the floor as he harpooned his boyfriend with two wild, colder-than-ice blue eyes. “I’m not asking if I know him, I’m asking for a fucking name!”

“Don’t shout at me!” Sasuke fires back, “I’m not some child you can scream at!”

“No- Not a child! My fucking _boyfriend of **ten fucking years**_!”

They sit like that, panting as they bear down into each other’s faces, Naruto, tense with righteous fury and Sasuke with the uneasy sense of apprehension.

“Who. Is. He.” Naruto asks once more, deathly calm, baby blue eyes colder than the arctic sea yet smoldering with restrained anger. Sasuke regards him warily, wondering just what purpose it would serve to fess up.

“His name,” Sasuke licks his lips and clears his throat when it cracks, “his name is Suigetsu.”

“I’ll kill him,” Naruto hisses, standing abruptly to his feet and reaching for his coat, ignoring the shocked look on Sasuke’s face, “I’ll fucking bash his face in and feed him to Kiba’s dogs, or maybe even to Kankurou’s cats, whoever’s house I reach first.”

“You will do no such thing!” Sasuke shoots up, swiping Naruto’s keys from him before he could take them and bolt. “You are not to even go _near_ him!”

“No, Sasuke- _dear_ ,” Naruto hisses, voice dripping with venom, “ _you_ are not to go near him, because you are _my_ boyfriend, not his. Do you fucking understand that? _Sweetheart_?”

Naruto throws on his fashion-murder orange coat and holds out his hand, “Now give me my fucking keys.”

Sasuke throws on his body hugging black coat and shoves Naruto’s keys deep into his pocket. “No.”

“Sasuke, I will _walk_ if I have to, don’t you fucking doubt me for a second.” Naruto hisses, glaring down his silent and frustratingly stubborn boyfriend that he refuses to let go, reminiscent of the time when Sasuke ran away from home with two guys who were more strangers than friends in a poorly misguided attempt to fix all of his problems. After obtaining information from Tayuya, who was friends with the two guys Sasuke had ran away with, Naruto had practically _walked_ the whole way from Florida to California, dead set on bringing his friend back from whatever bullshit he had involved himself in.

When his feet got too bloody and sore to walk he hitch-hiked, when he almost got raped by a giant trucker for accepting a ride from him he stole a bike and when the tires popped he stole a car and drove as far as he could without stopping for gas fearing that if he did a security camera would get a shot of the car and his face. He barely ate and hardly slept, when he finally hit California he wasted no time in scrounging around for information, going to the city Tayuya had promised they were hiding in (he’d never admit that he had hunted her down like a fucking hound after Sasuke left with the two idiots and broke her right hand and crushed two of her fingers on her left until she finally gave up their location. It was the first and the last time he would ever hit a woman. His mother didn’t raise a monster). When he found Sasuke, he drug him back home kicking and screaming; a year after that they began dating.

Naruto shakes his head to ward off the memory to regard Sasuke, when he refuses to budge Naruto pinches the bridge of his nose and attempts to reign his anger back in, forcing himself to box it all in and throw away the key. “Look, Sasuke,” Naruto sighs, moving to rub the back of his head and shuffle his feet, “I think it would be best if we went home and got some sleep, we’re both tired and we obviously have a lot to talk about in the morning-“

“Naruto,” Sasuke cuts him off, “I don’t think you quite understand what’s happening here. I’m _leaving_ you.” He tells him, his voice softening at the end. “I’m breaking up with you. There’s just-it’s just not working. You’re not going to sleep on the couch because I’m not going to come home with you- I don’t live there anymore, I’m not-“ he pulls a pained face here, a horrid feeling burning away at his stomach “-I’m not going to marry you.”

He looks up into Naruto’s eyes and wills him to understand.

“I’m not going to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Tears well up in Naruto’s torn blue eyes as he reaches out to stroke Sasuke’s cheek with a trembling hand, “Why are you doing this Sasuke? Please tell me what I did, I can fix it.” he whispers brokenly.

“Please back away and let me go, Naruto.” Sasuke begs softly.

“I can’t,” Naruto responds with a watery smile so bitter Sasuke was afraid his heart would break even more than it already had, “I can’t just give up and let you, I love you too much to let you walk away. I love you and I will always love you, Sasuke. We can work past this; we can if we work together. Just you and me, no one else; we could do whatever we want. We have a future together, a future where you come home, and we’ll continue bickering and eventually we’ll get married and we’ll grow old together-“

“Stop it!” Sasuke cuts him off with an exasperated shout, “Just stop it Naruto, don’t you feed me lies about some idealistic future!”

“It _is_ ideal! And I’m trying to make it a reality! If you would just-!”

“No,” Sasuke shakes his head, a note of finality in his voice, “It’s over, Naruto.” With that Sasuke maneuvered around his frozen, now ex-boyfriend, and placed Naruto’s keys on the table. With one last pained look at Naruto’s face he sighed and walked toward the door, leaving the café and ripping himself out of Naruto’s life, refusing to acknowledge and face the tears that ran down Naruto’s face.

/./.

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.

.

Of course that would have been the case had Naruto been any other man. The fact of the matter is, was that Naruto was a one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-blue-moon kind of man; the kind of man that hid in plain sight and waited patiently for you to show your weakness so he could exploit it with a mask crafted with the most dazzling smile and heart-warming smile.

Watching the love of his life slip out the café door in his black form fitting jacket (a jacket that Naruto had bought him for Christmas last year) without a backwards glance, Naruto wiped his tears away and flipped open his cellphone, dialing a familiar number.

“…Hello?”

“Remember that favor you owed me for saving your ass?”

A beat.

A wild smile (one that sent the group of teens scrambling to leave the café in a hurry) stretched across Naruto’s lips as he listened to the wary silence resounded over the phone line.

“It’s time to pay up.”

A sigh.

“What do you need?”

“Information.”

“On what?”

Naruto’s cheery smile instantly dropped and a growl emerged from deep within his throat.

“On a certain someone.” Was his clipped response.

“…Please don’t tell me Sasuke broke up with you for that asshole who works in HR.”

“Give me his information. All of it,” Naruto continues, “I want to know _everything_. I know you can do it, you are after all, screwing his assistant.”

Without even waiting for a response Naruto hangs up. He stood there for a good five minutes before pulling his phone back out to send a quick text.

_“Oh and Neji? Not a word to Sasuke.”_

He paused here, before putting out a mass text.

_“Brain trust- assemble.”_

He exited the café after throwing down some bills and flashing a toothy grin at the visibly distressed waitress as he stepped out of the small coffee shop and into the cold November night.


	2. The Brain Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so, the brain trust unites

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: a sprinkle of crack, heartbreak and smiles

 

 

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When Naruto walked into his apartment that night he didn’t know what to expect. Meeting up with Shikamaru earlier, allowing him to pull him into an awkward hug had helped a tiny bit to sooth the ache in his heart. But it wasn’t enough, that hollow feeling that took residence in his chest the moment Sasuke had walked out of the café had yet to go away, and Naruto _knew_ nothing would be alright until he had Sasuke in his arms again. He had given Shikamaru his key with the instructions to allow everyone into his now empty home; and walking through the front door now, he was glad he had done it.

The thought of coming back to an empty home was almost too much to bare.

So when he walked through the front door, a small relieved smile graced his lips when he saw his friends all piled into his living room clad in nothing but their pajamas.

 “Alright guys, as of now you are my brain trust,” Naruto calls out, clapping his hands and stalking forward to pace back and forth, “and as my brain trust it is your job to help me think up ways to get Sasuke back.”

“Whoa, wait a second!” Kiba shouts, shooting to his feet, “Sasuke ran away again?!”

“No you moron,” Ino rolls her eyes, “He broke up with Naruto to try and get with some other dude.”

“So which means he ran away again,” Gaara drawls as he cleans his nails with a knife.

“I’m with Gaara on this one, but as for the whole trying to get with someone else, that seems a bit strange.” Sai mumbles as he buries his face into his new sketch book inhaling until his lungs burned, “God I love the smell of new sketch books.”

“Sai! Focus!” Lee shouts, “Our Youthful Friend Is In Mourning!”

“More like he got his heart ripped out of his ass,” Ten-ten muttered.

“Wait-Why the hell is Ino here?” Kiba points at the affronted girl.

“What do you mean?”

“Well she’s a girl! I thought this was a guy’s only kind of thing.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry Ten-Ten, didn’t see you there,” Kiba gulped eyeing her warily as she eyed Gaara’s knife, no doubt already considering snatching it from his hand and dismembering the dog lover.

“Look! Guys! Focus!” Naruto yelled trying to gain their attention, waving his arms and clapping his hands.

“Besides,” Ino continues, flipping her blond hair over one shoulder as she leans further into the couch, giving no indication that she even heard her blond friend, “everyone knows men can’t do anything on their own, much less _you_. I don’t even know why _you’re_ in this brain trust.”

“Excuse me?!” Kiba shrieks getting into Ino’s face as she stands from her place on the couch. “If anything I don’t see why _you’re_ here! All you’re going to do is sit back and _try_ to look pretty!”

“Say that again dog breath!” Ino yells back, grabbing him by the collar as Gaara growls at Ten-Ten who tried to snatch the knife out of his hands as Lee cheered on the energy spewing from the rowdy adults as Neji face-palms and Sai starts rubbing his face into his new sketch book moaning at its scent. Shino discreetly shuffles away for the fear of getting creamed on when Sai’s body started twitching and shuddering.

“Is Shikamaru sleeping?”

“ **Guys**!” Naruto booms, finally gaining everyone’s attention. “Can we _please_ start focusing? Cause yanno my love life is on the line here!”

“That’s right guys!” Lee jumps up from his spot on the floor and hops onto the table, sending the bowl of chips flying, “We were entrusted with the responsibility of ‘Brain Trust’ it is up to us to help mend the rift between Naruto and Sasuke!”

“Lee,” Gaara glares as he flicks pieces of potato chips off his lap, “sit down.”

“He is right though,” Ino says, releasing Kiba’s collar and shoving him back onto the couch ignoring his indignant squawk before sitting down herself, and shooting Kiba a vexed glare, “Naruto did call us here for a reason.”

“Alright then, Naruto,” Neji sighs, “What’s the plan?”

Naruto nods and clears his throat, “Right, Shikamaru?”

Narrowing his eyes when the slumbering genius didn’t respond Gaara reached over and poked him with his knife, using the pointy end, with a gleeful smirk on his face as Shikamaru shot up with a yelp.

“Damn it that hurt!” he shouts rubbing his small wound, hoping he didn’t draw blood.

“You weren’t complaining last night,” Gaara drawls, voice silky and peppered with lust.

“Woah!” Kiba yells, staring wide-eyed and pointing an accusing finger at the ponytailed man “Wait a second, aren’t you shacking up with Neji?”

The affronted man rolls his eyes and crosses on leg over the other, “It’s called sharing you buffoon.” He huffs, flicking his hair over his shoulder.

Kiba shutters and scoots closer to Ino, who looked _far_ too happy to be there staring at the three men with a feral look in her eyes.

“I didn’t need to know that.” Kiba gags.

“Ugh,” Ten-Ten grumbles, “All the good ones always end up gay.”

“GUYS!” Naruto yells, “Seriously! My love life! Remember? It’s kind of in the shitter right now? Can we focus?!”

“Wait, there’s a thought,” Sai begins, looking all flushed and glazy eyed, “Dickless, why don’t you _share_ Sasuke? That way you both win.”

When the temperature dropped about 80 degrees Sai either didn’t notice or he chose not to react.

“ _Fuck_. No.” Naruto hisses.

“Well,” Neji shrugs, “It’s not a lifestyle for everyone.”

“That or you’re just a freak,” Kiba grumbles.

“If I’m not mistaken, you seem to have some delusion about having a crush on my cousin.” Neji says seemingly offhandedly, “Even if that were true it would be a shame if she had an older cousin hell-bent on sabotage.” Neji’s eyes are ice-cold and his smile is sharp. Suffice to say Kiba clamped his mouth shut quickly after shooting Ino a betrayed look as she coughed and scooted away before her eyes widen and a thoughtful look crosses her face as Neji continues to grin at his helpless victim, looking far too interested in the way he squirmed in his seat.

“God help me,” Naruto groans, walking into the kitchen to grab a beer…or two.

By the time he gets back Sai is convulsing on the floor with his face buried in his book, Shikamaru is sleeping, Ten-Ten wailing over her lack of love-life, Gaara’s making out with Neji, Kiba is looking far too flushed for it to be considered disgust at the sight of them, Shino is sitting silently in one corner, examining a spider he spotted, Lee is screaming about youth and Ino-Ino is just sitting in the middle of all the chaos looking pensive. Naruto sighs, pops open his beer bottle and raises his eyes toward the ceiling and silently pounders his whole existence before Ino shouts and springs to her feet.

“Holy shit I’ve got it!” she screams above all the noise effectively silencing anyone.

Naruto takes a long drink from his beer, and then another-then turns to get another before he has a face full of an eager Ino.

“I’ve got it, Naruto!” she says again, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him a bit with a maniac twinkle in her eye “I know how you can beat this asshole and whisk Sasuke away into the sunset and have all the hot raunchy gay sex you want!” there’s a gleam in her eye that effectively gains Naruto’s attention as well as promptly scares the shit out of him too.

“…Go on.”

She spins dramatically and points a manicured finger at a now awake Shikamaru, “You’ve got this guy’s info right?” before he could nod she spins again and points a finger at Naruto, “You listen up Naruto, there’s only one way to beat this fucker trust me, you will and you wanna know why?”

“Why?” he asks, a genuine grin reaching his lips for the first time in days.

Ino jabs a thumb into her chest winking and cocking her hip, “Because we’re your motherafuckin’ brain trust.” She announces.

“…you’ve been having Samuel Jackson marathons again haven’t you?” Kiba grumbles. Ino twists and attempts to strangle him when Shikamaru sighs and throws a pillow at them.

“So what’s your plan?” Shikamaru asks when the pillow bounces harmlessly off her head. She straightens her shirt, brushes off invisible lint and a grin their old high school science teacher, Orochimaru would be jealous of, stretches across her lips.

And in one word Naruto’s life gets a little brighter.

“Sabotage.” Ino sings with a gleam in her eye.

Naruto is effectively awed and slightly scared.

/./.

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“Naruto.”

As the rest settled down in his living room in what was the biggest adult sleepover he’s ever been apart of, Naruto is slightly startled when Sai appears in his bedroom doorway. His heart jumped and his stomach lurched; for a moment, he had thought he was Sasuke.

“Ah, what’s up Sai?”

Sai was quiet, lips settling in one of his famous fake smiles and his eyes just a tad bright. In his hands he held a bag that looked suspicious.

“Here,” he stalks forward and pulls the blinds on Naruto’s big windows, allowing the moonlight to spill through, “This dreary place looks like it needs some color.” He sets the bag down and Naruto shuffles closer to see that it was filled with paints and brushes.

“From what you know about the plan, and what is going to happen tomorrow, I want you to pain this window,” Sai says, “paint it with all your feelings and when this is over, show it to Sasuke.”

Naruto’s eyes widen, and he takes the paintbrush Sai holds out to him, cradling it gently in his hands.

“Even some dickless idiot like you can manage that.” Sai grins before getting up and walking back out, shutting the door gently behind him.

After he leaves, Naruto paints and paints until the morning came.

/././

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“You know Sasuke,” Suigetsu starts, twirling his spatula in his hand as he attempts to make chicken quesadillas, “I don’t think this is such a good idea.”

“What do you mean?” Sasuke asks in a calm manner as he sets the table.

“I mean that you really shouldn’t be here when you obviously are still hung up on fish-cake.”

Sasuke looks at him sharply before frowning, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Suigetsu rolls his eyes before flipping the food humming, “right, of course you’re not, that’s exactly why you took out ramen bowls when you should be getting normal plates.”

“…I’m just tired is all,” Sasuke snips, swiping the bowls from the table and heading to the left.

“Bowls and plates are to the _right_ , Sasuke.” Suigetsu sighs, rolling his eyes as he hears Sasuke grumble and head over to the cabinet to extract the plates. There is silence before Sasuke sighs and sets the table and sits down with a heavy thud as he places his forehead in his arms.

“…Can we just skip dinner and have sex so I can sleep?” Sasuke grumbles as Suigetsu serves the food.

“I’ve told you a million times Sasuke, I’m not going to have sex with you just so you can be too tired to even think.” He says with an exasperated tone.

“As if you could accomplish that,” Sasuke glares.

“No sex.” Suigetsu says firmly, “We’re going to eat and then I’m going to dump your admittedly hot ass out into the hallway and you can drive your pathetic self _home_.”

“What kind of a friend are you?” Sasuke growls, stabbing his quesadilla with a fork with the viciousness and over dramatics of a vexed teenager who was denied concert tickets to their favorite band.

“The kind that wonders why the fuck you broke up with your boyfriend of _ten_ years and decided to lie and say that I, a completely _innocent_ man, might be the other man; I can’t take him in a fight you know? That guy is _huge_ , I might be a tad taller but he has got a hell of a lot more muscle. I’m paranoid I’m going to get randomly jumped. It’s bad enough Shikamaru is on my ass whenever I even come _close_ to your office.”

“Shikamaru won’t touch you.” Sasuke rolls his eyes.

“He won’t, but his Martial arts lover and his _other_ sadist lover, who might I add has a fetish for causing pain, will. I’m not a fighter, Sasuke,” Suigetsu says, “Shikamaru’s could take me, even that girl with the blond hair and blue eyes could. Not to mention the one with pink hair, now _she_ scares the shit out of me. Along with that dog lover and oh yeah, your EX-BOYFRIEND. Who I might add is probably going to murder me. And in the off chance that he isn’t out for my blood, you can be damn sure his friends will be.”

“Naruto wouldn’t bother-“

“The guy WALKED to California, Sasuke, _walked_. You ran away from home with two idiots and he broke a poor girls _hand_ and fingers just to get information; what the _hell_ makes you think he’s not going to come after me? Better yet, what do you think he’s going to do to me? I’m supposedly the ‘other man’.”

Sasuke shakes his head and pushes his plate away as Suigetsu bites into his food viciously.

“I wasn’t lying you know,” Sasuke starts, “You _do_ have the potential to be the ‘other man’.”

“I have feelings for you,” Suigetsu starts, “but you’re still in love with your ex, and I’m not about to be stuck with the label of ‘home-wrecker’ just because you’re frightened he might not have loved you anymore.”

“That’s not-!”

“It is true,” Suigetsu cuts him off, “You left him because you felt like your relationship hit a dead zone and wasn’t moving and he kept coming home late and leaving early. You left because you felt that he was leaving you first and you didn’t want to be left behind in the way your brother-.”

“I don’t need to listen to this.” Sasuke hisses, pushing his mutilated food away as Suigetsu shrugs and takes another bite of his.

“You’re still wearing the sweater he bought you for your birthday,” Suigetsu remarks effectively freezing the brunette on the spot.

“You still set out ramen bowls, you still think you’re back in your apartment with him, and you still carry around a bottle of his cologne. I’m not stupid, Sasuke. I’m your second best friend and I will never be your lover because those positions belong to Naruto.” He stands and begins to clear away the table. “Go home, Sasuke. Go home to him and tell him that you’re just being a little bitch. That you need him a hell of a lot more then you want to admit. Oh, and don’t let your mother feed him anymore of her ‘Special Ramen’ and tell your cousin to-“

“Have sex with me.” Sasuke cuts him off, walking over and shoving Suigetsu against the counter.

“No.” Suigetsu deadpans, leaning away.

“Have sex with me,” Sasuke resumes as if not hearing him, “Have sex with me and help me forget, I don’t want him; I want you.”

“No, Sasuke,” Suigetsu sighs, setting his hands on Sasuke’s chest to push him gently away, praying that Sasuke doesn’t try to take this any further, “You don’t want to want him, but you do. I love you, Sasuke, but not like he does.”

“Fuck you!” Sasuke hisses, pulling him down into a harsh kiss that Suigetsu tries to ward off; but honestly, let’s get real here, Sasuke is a sexy bitch and Suigetsu is a man who can only take so much. His resolve had been cracking since day one and what’s a guy supposed to do when the man from his wet dreams is trying to jump on you and ride you like a fucking bicycle?

His control snaps with a horrid cracking sound and pushes Sasuke against the counter, leaving the cups to tumble to the floor-

-when the doorbell rings.

“…expecting someone?” Sasuke grumbles with his eyebrow raised.

“..ngh,” is the only reply Suigetsu can come up with because he was so damn _close_ to destroying every single one of his morals that fall under the ‘Things-I-will never-do-that-will-harm-my-friend-in-the-long-run’ category. Sasuke yelps as Suigetsu drags them down onto the floor, all curses and growls and sad whimpers of agony.

With a huff Sasuke detaches himself and walks to the apartment door while Suigetsu shuffles to the bathroom with a huge problem. Grumbling, Sasuke wrenches the door open to come face to face with…

“Ino?” he gapes incredulously.

Ino is standing before him, a giant bouquet in her hands that are in a whole array of colorful flowers that nearly overshadows her face as she holds them up as an offering.

“Hi Sasuke!” she chirps with a far too sweet smile that sets Sasuke on the edge.

“What are you-?”

“Special Delivery!” she giggles shoving the flowers into his hands, with one last grin she shoots forward and kisses Sasuke’s cheek before dropping a piece of paper in his hands, squeezing his shoulder before turning to leave.

“Wait- who-?”

“Don’t ask stupid questions, Sasuke.” Ino admonishes before she’s gone in a flurry of petals and purple dresses and sickening familiar blond hair and baby blue eyes. Sasuke just stands there or a while and eyes the flowers, a flush slowly creeping onto his face. Right dead center of the entire mess of beautiful flowers, is a sunflower. Warily, he opens his hand to peer at the paper.

_Flower language,_ it reads.

_Forget-me-nots: love and hope_

_Anemone: unfading love_

_Yellow Hyacinth: Jealousy_

_Lavender: Devotion_

_Rose White: Eternal Love_

_Pink Carnation: I’ll never forget you_

_Salvia Blue: I think of you_

_Spider flower: Elope with me_

_White Violet: Let’s take a chance on love._

_And finally,_ it reads, _Sunflowers: loyalty and longevity._

Sasuke bites his lip and strokes the petals of the sunflower with clammy fingers

“Sasuke?” Suigetsu calls out as he walks into the room, flustered and tense. Sasuke turns to him and shuts the door gently, his eyes never leaving the bouquet.

“…it’s funny,” Sasuke creaks, “When I ended it all, he had the _nerve_ to ask me if there was someone else, when _he_ was the one who… And then he sends me _flowers_ …”

“…throw these away, Suigetsu.” Sasuke grits out, his voice strained and his eyes guarded. Suigetsu doesn’t make any move to do as Sasuke demanded. Instead, he takes Sasuke’s hand and leads him into the kitchen. There, he digs into is cabinets and emerges with a vase and a small bitter smile.

“This kitchen of mine is pretty dull huh?” Suigetsu mutters as he takes the flowers from Sasuke’s death grip and gently unwraps the flowers, tediously, tenderly he snips the stems, trimming them down and placing each one almost lovingly into the vase, arranging them so that the sunflower remained in the middle, nestled by the white roses, “maybe this will put a little bit more color into this boring room.” He claps his hands and then places them on his hips; turning to Sasuke he grins, “There now, would ya look at that,” he grins at how the white sparkling vase heightened the beauty of the seemingly random selection of flowers. “Look how pretty these flowers make this room.”

Sasuke scowls and turns his back to the glaring array of flowers, refusing to admit that despite the random shades of colors, the flowers made the room seem so much brighter.

Just the way Naruto did, with his bright orange colored obsession, eye frying bright blond hair, tan skin and so-damn-breath-taking baby blue eyes. Sasuke could just see it now, he’s back in their apartment, and the room is cast in greys and whites, dull in its protection from the outside world. The curtains block out the sun and the light that is above his head is florescent and fake like the smile on a model’s face in the magazine that rests next to him. Everything is gloomy and colorless until the front door opens and Naruto steps through the threshold, an array of wild and out of place colors. His voice shatters the gloomy air and his smile brightens the room in ways colors never could. And his touch, his touch makes spindles of heat and affection run chaotically through Sasuke’s body-

“…Sasuke,” Suigetsu mutters, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Just like that, everything changes, the image of their apartment- his and Naruto’s- the feeling of warmth and the array of colors disappears. He’s left standing there, gasping for breath, forcing himself to get a grip because the illusion was shattered far too suddenly- it’s painful; to a degree that has Sasuke biting back a tremor. Everything is narrowed down to this moment, here in Suigetsu’s apartment, staring at a bouquet of flowers Naruto had undoubtedly sent him, in an attempt to gather all of his love and feelings and show it so bluntly to Sasuke, the way he always had when he wore his heart on his sleeve. These flowers represent nearly everything Naruto could ever want him to know, how much he loves him, how he longs and hopes for him and their love, their future; how nestled in these feelings is jealousy, jealousy for the man that now stands next to him and the obvious longing he feels.

Sasuke takes a shuddering breath and Suigetsu doesn’t speak again.

It’s there, Naruto’s feelings nestled in a tiny crystal vase, over powering and demanding of attention, as if it were Naruto himself sitting on the kitchen table, calling over and over again: _I love you, don’t forget me, don’t forget my love, I’m jealous of the man you chose, I’ll never forget the love I have for you, I’ll wait for you, I think of you all the time, come run away with me, let’s try our chance at this again, I love you._

Sasuke shakes his head, a tight smile on his face; all sharp edges but genuine and presses the heels of his hands into his eyes.

“That idiot,” he mumbles through a watery voice, “stupid fool.”

/./.

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.

.

 “So?”

“What?”

“Report.”

Ino grins and gives Naruto a mock Salute, cocking her hip and sticking her tongue out.

“Operation: Ruin-Sasuke-and-Home-Wrecker’s-perfect-evening-dinner-by-delivering-flowers-filled-with- genuine-feelings-of-Uzumaki-Naruto-to-plant-the-seed-of-doubt-and-hopefully-make-Sasuke-remember-what-he-used-to-have-and-hopefully-see-what-he’s-going-to-walk-away-from, was a success!”

Kiba eyes her warily as he pops a chip into his mouth, “that is seriously one long ass title.”

“Shut it!”

Naruto chuckles and raises his cup high in the air, “to victory!” he cheers.

The others smirk and raise their glasses in response.

“So what’s next?” Neji asks, twirling Gaara’s red locks in his fingers as Shikamaru shrugs and pulls out a small slip of paper.

“Sasuke had told me to clear his schedule this Friday and coincidently Suigetsu has that day off.” Shikamaru flips the paper over and rolls his eyes, “Also, Sasuke had me make reservations at a fancy restaurant down town at around 8 o’clock so there’s no doubt that’s where they’ll be.

Ino punches her palm and smirks, “Right, so all we need to do is infiltrate and-“

“Not so fast,” Neji cuts in, “this place is high end, and no one gets in without a reservation or a special pass that identifies you as a worker.”

“What, seriously?” Naruto blinks in astonishment as Neji nods and leans further into the couch, releasing Gaara’s hair in favor of drumming his fingers on the arm of the couch.

“Yes, so it’s not going to be easy to get in, we need a plan.”

“Don’t worry guys,” Ino grins, “I know just who to call.”

/./.

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.

.

“ **What the hell do you mean they broke up**?!”

Ino winces and thrusts the phone _far_ away from her precious ear, not even needing to put it on speaker for everyone in the room to hear.

“Yeah, long story short Sasuke left Naruto for some other dude and now it’s up to us to help them get back together. Are you in?”

“I’m in,” they hear her growl, “I’m so far in they’ll be choking on my dick!”

“Sounds hot,” Neji deadpanned when Ino blinks down at her phone.

“You’re a freak,” Kiba cringes.

“You know Gaara and Shikamaru, Kiba here looks like he’s curious on how four-ways work, should we show him?” Neji asks pleasantly.

“Fuck no!” he yelps, jumping back and hiding behind Sai, “Whatever kinks you guys have keep me out of it!”

“You’re right,” Neji hums, “You won’t be able to handle it.”

“Excuse me!?”

“So Sakura,” Shikamaru coughs, “This is our dilemma, Sasuke and Suigetsu-”

“ **Suigetsu**?!” Sakura screams through the phone, “That asshole with the sharp teeth and bitchy attitude?!”

“Yes,” Ino nods with a pitying look.

“It’s quite alright,” Neji continues, ignoring the other occupants in the room, “it’s obvious that you won’t be able to keep up and it would be too much for you.”

Kiba shoves Sai none too gently out of the way and stalks up to Neji with a snarl on his face, “Hey, Hey! I can handle anything and everything! I’m a man’s man! I’m so masculine I make Zeus look like a dancing fairy in a toga! I could handle anything you three freaks can dish out without even a sweat!”

“…plus he likes Hinata?” Ten-Ten chimes in hesitantly, watching the exchange warily. Kiba coughs and shuffles his feet, a flush darkening his cheeks when Gaara licks his lips and grins.

“Right, uh, I like Hinata, yeah, M’not gay.” He clears his throat.

“Guys! Hello! The plan? You aren’t even helping!” Ino yells, “Kiba- you’re gay and you totally want in with those three idiots, Neji you want to incorporate Kiba in your freakish but admittedly hot orgy you got going on, Gaara just wants fresh meat and Shikamaru I see that tent in your pants! Get that pillow off your lap, my grandmother gave that to me and I don’t want love stains on them!”

“Wait wha-!”

“Hush, Kiba,” Neji purrs, “all in good time.”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Ten-Ten hisses, “let’s hear the plan.”

“Wait…where’s Naruto?”

“Oh he left to go drown his sorrows the moment Neji started eyeing Kiba like he was going to devour him on the spot.”

“So then why aren’t we getting drunk with him?”

“True, misery loves company.”

“To the bar!”

With that they all shuffled out of the room and Ino sighed in frustration as Sakura growled over the phone.

“Ino?”

“Yeah forehead?”

“Get a room ready.”

Ino blinks down at her phone and horror rapidly over takes her whole being.

“Sakura?”

“I’m coming home.” With that the line was cut off and Ino is left sitting on her couch with a frightened look on her face. She cringes and puts her phone away before biting her lip.

“Well, fuck.”

/./.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My knowledge of flowers is shite so if there were any mistakes on that part lets just ignore that shall we?


	3. Break My Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys must really not like Sasuke, don’t judge him too harshly, everything will come to light soon and you’ll all realize that he’s not so horrible and he does have his reasons for doing what he’s doing.  
> Enjoy!

/././

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Friday night had finally arrived and already Suigetsu wants nothing more than to crawl underneath a rock and never come out. The ride to the restaurant was silent and awkward as Sasuke drove; his gaze on the road and nowhere else. Suigetsu had tried to turn on the radio to add some form of noise but soon found that their tastes in music were far too different and thus had to shut it off in order to avoid a fight. So he sat there, drumming his fingers against the window and coughed a couple of times to defuse the silence.

“So I hear the Steelers are playing this week, do you think they’ll win?” he asks.

“I don’t watch football,” Sasuke grunts.

“Of course you don’t,” Suigetsu grumbles under his breath, throwing a withering look at his window.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sasuke demands, eyes narrowing.

“Nothing, it doesn’t mean anything-“

“It was obviously something if you’re denying it so-“

“Oh my God,” Suigetsu groans, throwing a hand over his eyes, “please just drop it; I _really_ don’t want to fight. I just want to get this over with and crawl back into my bed and sleep for a thousand years.”

“’Get this over with’ huh?”

“Sasuke,” Suigetsu cuts him off with a firm voice, “I know that the only reason you made this ‘date night’ so plainly obvious is because you know for a fact that Shikamaru is monitoring every little thing we do. You’re hoping he’ll relay this to Naruto and you’re hoping he just might be jealous enough to come get you.”

“I don’t know what you’re-”

“You gave me this day off, and then you askedShikamaru, _Naruto’s friend_ , to clear your schedule and then told him to get you a reservation at one of the best restaurants around. Do _not_ take me for an idiot like your boyfriend.”

“Don’t you _dare_ call him that.” Sasuke hisses, gripping his steering wheel and shooting Suigetsu with the famous Uchiha glare.

“And yet you don’t say anything about the boyfriend part.” Suigetsu mutters, yelping when the car is suddenly jerked to a stop.

“We’re here,” Sasuke snaps, turning off the car and getting out, slamming the door shut.

“This is going to be a bitch of a night,” Suigetsu groans.

/././

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.

.

Suigetsu is one hundred percent certain he’s going to die tonight; and it’s _not_ because Sasuke is in possession of various knives and a fork and is currently upset with him. No, it’s because the waiter just dropped off an _Oleander_ in a tightly sealed glass vile with the message that ‘Someone asked me to give this to you and please sir, don’t open it and touch the flower I’m quite sure it’s just for looks’. With shaky hands, he reaches for his phone, ignores Sasuke’s curious gaze and Googles the meaning behind the flower.

_Oleander: Caution; beware._

_This flower is highly poisonous in all parts._

Fuck he is so screwed.

He clears his throat, puts his phone away and beings to mentally prepare a speech that consists of reasons why he feels he should keep living and all the reasons why this was a horrible idea on Sasuke’s part to continue this stupid charade of his when someone bumps into their table, rattling their champagne bottles and silverware.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry!”

Suigetsu’s blood runs cold and he’s pretty sure he’s about to piss himself.

Sakura is beautiful with her flushed cheeks and her pinned up pink hair and beautiful green eyes. It’s not her that’s got him on the verge of tears; it’s the man holding onto her hand. Uzumaki _fucking_ Naruto is everything Suigetsu fears and the worst part? The worst part is that the man is fucking _smiling right at him_.

“Oh, look who it is!” Sakura is all gasps and flustered tones with ruby lips and diamond earrings, “wow, awkward! Sorry, we were just leaving; I wasn’t watching where I was going. Anyway, how are you Sasuke?”

Sasuke is frozen in his seat, a light in his eyes as he takes in Naruto for the first time in weeks that Suigetsu hasn’t seen since he left Naruto. He clears his throat, cheeks a dusty pink and nods his head as Suigetsu spies him gripping his knife a bit tighter.

“Sakura, I’ve been…I’ve been good,” he swallows, eyes flickering over her face before returning to Naruto, “very good.”

She smiles, a bright thing with far too much teeth to be considered kind, “That’s great! Glad to know you’re fine. Ah, Naruto and I, we were just- ah, dinner,” she blurts out with a tense voice, “yeah, we were just going to-”

“We’re currently on a date,” Naruto cuts her off with a sharp smile that expels the air from Sasuke’s lungs as he blinks in shock, “We’re on a dinner date and we should really get going, the night is young and so are we.”

“Naruto!” Sakura hisses, sending a sharp elbow to his arm as she flushes, turning wary eyes back to the seated men, “Sorry, but yeah, we should really go, it was nice seeing you again, Sasuke and you too, Mugetsu.”

“It’s Suigetsu,” he chokes, reaching for his glass and downing it in a huge gulp.

“Right,” she nods in their direction and Naruto doesn’t even bother, just takes her by the hand and guides her away by the small of her back and out the door, dropping a kiss to her neck.

Suigetsu breathes deep and braves a glance at Sasuke, biting his lip at the sheer amount of pain he spies in his eyes. It was discerning, seeing the unmasked torment ruling his friend’s face; and the worst part of it all was that Sasuke couldn’t even bring himself to hide it.

“Hey,” he mutters, flicking his eyes from the entrance where Naruto and Sakura had left and back to Sasuke’s frozen form, “Sasuke, we should go.”

“Why is she back in town?” Sasuke whispers, “Why is she here, she shouldn’t _be_ here.”

Suigetsu sighs and gathers their things, signals for the check, pays it in full without a word and guides Sasuke to the car, worried when Sasuke goes without a fight. He takes the keys and opens the door, gets him in the car and buckles him in. He shuts his door and goes to the other side of the car, breathes in deep and gets in and just sits there in the cold next to his broken hearted friend. They sit in silence for an hour before Sasuke finally breaks.

“He said he _refused_ to give up on me,” he whispers, “He said he refuses to. He _never_ gives up, even on the stupidest of things, he never… Why would he give up _now_? So quickly?” he glances up and Suigetsu is stabbed one thousand times over with the image of Sasuke’s broken hearted face, “Am I really not worth it? _At all_? Did he even _love_ me like he said?” Angry tears well in his dark eyes as fury takes its hold. “Naruto was always so straight forward, always fought for what he wanted, those chocolates, the flowers, the painting…I thought…” he trails off before tensing and admitting the inevitable truth.

“He’s a fucking liar,” Sasuke hisses, “a good for nothing fucking liar. That’s probably why he wouldn’t come home at times when we were still together; he was probably too busy bending _her_ over his desk and..” he trails off with a choked voice, squeezing his eyes shut and letting out harsh breaths, as his agony grows stronger and stronger, stealing the breath right out of his lungs, “He never loved me, never had any plans on getting me back and I’m the idiot who was holding on to that small piece of hope that he would. While he’s off gallivanting off with that _whore_. I’m such an idiot, Suigetsu. A fucking idiot.”

“No you’re fucking not.” Suigetsu guts him off with a firm voice, eyes hard, as he grabs onto Sasuke’s shoulder to get his full attention, “You’re not an idiot for believing in him. You had _hope_ Sasuke, fuck, you had _faith_ in something that most people would never even bet on. And that counts for everything. We all make bad moves; sometimes it costs us more than we are willing to pay but that’s life. There’s nothing we can do but try and live with the pain and shuffle through life with our heads down. And eventually, eventually we can hold our head up and stand tall and learn to love again.”

“It’s not that simple,” Sasuke shakes his head with a wry smile, angrily rubbing at his eyes, “This is so much more than that…” he trails off with a shuddering breath, leans back into his chair and stares up at the car ceiling, searching for an answer it could never give.

“Suigetsu,” Sasuke calls out eventually in the stillness of the night as they sit side by side in the car.

“Yes?”

“I’m angry with them,” he whispers, “I’m so angry, the three of us were best friends in high school and she left a few years back to pursue her medical career and to think that they…” he trails off, biting his lip and letting out a shuddering breath.

“…so,” Suigetsu grins weakly, “I’m the other man and she’s the other woman; quite a load of fucked up shit. Is this why you created this entire charade?”

“Naruto would wake up so early and come home so fucking late, and at times he wouldn’t come home at all. I had suspected that there was someone else, but to think that it was her…” he takes a deep breath.

“What do you want to do?” Suigetsu asks quietly.

“I want to rip them both to shreds; completely obliterate them, _after_ finding out the truth about what the fuck has been going on.”

“Well,” Suigetsu smiles weakly, clearing his throat, “I don’t know about you but I’m not really up to being an accomplice to murder.”

Sasuke lets out a breathy laugh, the anger melting away to exhaustion as he searches the ceiling of the car for answers he know it wouldn’t have.

 “I still love him.” Sasuke grits out, tears welling up in his eyes once more before falling silently as he clenches his eyes closed.

“I know buddy,” Suigetsu responds with a sad smile before starting the car, “Hope you decide to do something about it soon.”

/././

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.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit short, I know but hopefully this sheds a little bit of light on Sasuke’s side and what’s going on in that head of his.  
> Remember to please review!  
> Cheers!


	4. Fall Apart

/./.

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.

 “So,” Ino coughs, “how’s Naruto?”

“He’s at the gym with the boys, beating them to bloody pulps in hopes it’ll cure his broken heart.” Sakura replies, flipping a page of her magazine, green eyes skimming over and over.

“Are the boys okay?” Ten-ten asks gently, running her finger over her new pocket knife. Sakura shrugs, and throws the magazine away and purses her lips.

“It wasn’t as easy as I had hoped, going into that diner and ‘running’ into them while on our ‘date’.” She sighs, “as soon as we got out and into the car he broke down screaming and crying and on our way home he tried to jump out of the moving car to run back to the restaurant to beat the living shit out of Suigetsu.” She flicks her eyes up at the other silent girls, “We need to act quickly you guys. I never want to see them like this ever again. This isn’t right.”

“So what do we do?” Ino asks, leaning closer.

“Something that’ll end this all once and for all.” Sakura declares, pulling out a notepad, “This will end in blood, tears and sex, ladies, are you prepared?”

Ino and Ten-Ten nod, smiles growing. “You bet your white ass we are.”

/././.

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.

After picking his sorry ass up and off the floor with a groan Sasuke reaches for his screaming phone with all the intent on throwing it out the window when he catches sight of the name on the screen. He bolts up, wipes his mouth and smoothers a smile. He takes a deep breath and reads the name one more time.

_Naruto Uzumaki_

He answers with trembling hands, “Sasuke Uchiha.”

“Hey,” Naruto’s voice sends shivers down his back as his familiar tone travels through his ear drums and over his body, warming every corner of it even if it was just hearing his voice over the phone.

“Hey,” he responds just as quietly, watches as the clock on the living room wall ticks by.

“How are you?” Naruto asks gently.

“I-I’m good. Just…took a day for myself, to, well you know just to relax..” Sasuke responds throwing a look around his living room piled high with boxes that he never once unpacked.

“That’s good, wish I could do the same, these papers are murdering my eyes.”

“You never did like paperwork,” Sasuke chuckles before he could stop himself.

“You know me too well,” Naruto laughs quietly and through it Sasuke could hear the rustle of paper.

Sasuke was sure his heart was getting squeezed though his chest as they spoke. It was almost too familiar, too personal.

“Are you at your office?” he asks anyway.

“Yeah, just trying to get back into the swing of things; been really busy for a while. I’m glad Sakura has been here to help me out.”

“I’m sure,” Sasuke breathes, suddenly angry his good mood grinding to a screeching halt only to then violently come crashing into the asphalt, “still coming home late then?”

“…Sasuke?”

“Leaving extra early to get to the office? Sakura _helping you quite a bit_?”

“What are you--?”

“Fuck you Uzumaki.” He hisses, hanging up. When his phone rings a second later he turns it off and throws it over his head and collapses on his couch, throwing his arm over his eyes to fight off an onslaught of anger and sorrow.

/././

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.

.

Naruto blinks down at his phone with wide eyes.

“He thought I was having an affair.” He says in shock, dropping the papers in his hands, “all those times I left early and stayed late was because I had a huge project that I wanted to keep secret until it was finished so I could show him. I was so excited about it too.”

“But why would he bring up Sakura?” Kiba tilts his head in confusion.

“Idiot,” Gaara sighs.

“Now, now,” Neji chuckles, “Kiba’s a bit slow on the uptake, but that’s okay, just leaves more room for teaching.”

“Keep it in the bedroom, you guys,” Ten-Ten sighs when Kiba makes strangled noises as Neji and Gaara shuffle closer.

“I’m quite curious to know what really happened though,” Lee frowns, his voice softer than they’d ever heard it.

“Think of it like this from Sasuke’s point of view, Naruto has been leaving home really early and coming home really late. Because of this there’s no time for their relationship. They become nothing better than roommates for lack of better term. Sasuke thinks it’s coming to an end and Naruto doesn’t see it coming. So Sasuke ends it before it gets any worse; not even weeks later Naruto shows up with Sakura, who is _supposed_ to be in another country; Sakura, who Naruto had an admittedly creepy crush on since before Sasuke and Naruto got together. So of course Sasuke is going to think they were having an affair this entire time.” Shikamaru finishes. “Of course it doesn’t help that Sasuke has been waiting on Naruto this entire time.”

“Wait what?!” Naruto shrieks.

“Isn’t it obvious? Sasuke is smart, _really_ fucking smart, if he wanted to hide this Suigetsu thing better he could have. Instead, he uses _me_ to make their date arrangements, makes it plainly obvious _where_ they’ll be on what day and what time. He _knows_ we’re friends, he _knew_ I would tell you. He’s been waiting, whether he wants to admit it or not. All those times you guys showed up? In some way he was probably hoping it would be Naruto.”

“Holy shit,” Kiba croaks after a moment of silence, “You really _are_ a dumbass.”

“Which brings us to the last phase of our plan,” Sakura speaks up before a fight could start, snapping her fingers and Lee scrambles to pass her a bag. With a smirk Sakura pulls out two last flowers. “Nothing like a little bit of truth to clear away doubts.”

/././

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.

“Sasuke?” Suigetsu greets as he drops down next to him in the spacious meeting room, “Hey you okay?”

Sasuke pauses, clenches the papers in his hands tighter and then smoothens it out, “Perfectly fine, why do you ask?”

“Because you’re having a meeting with your brother and some other top executives and this meeting could be a deal breaker for this company and yet you’re holding a _neon orange_ coffee cup?”

“It was the only one I could find in the break room,” Sasuke defends, shoving the coffee cup away, cursing as it sloshes coffee over the rim and over his papers.

“Look, maybe we should call someone else to do this-”

“No,” Sasuke hisses, “No, _we’re_ going to do this and _we’re_ going to land this fucking deal and this company is going to expand to the new building those old dicks had chosen some _knock off_ architect to design and then I’m going to go home, take a _long_ bath, stuff my face with those fucking chocolates and sleep for the next ten years.”

Lifting his hands in surrender Suigetsu wisely backs off.

Half an hour later everyone is seating and Sasuke is pretty sure his entire life is falling apart. His eyes are wide open in shock and his mouth has dropped.

“I’m sorry,” he blurts, “ _Who_ did you appoint to design the building should this deal go through?” Itachi, who sat a few chairs away, watches with a ghost of a smile.

Frowning in disapproval over being interrupted the executive glares, “Well, we decided to get a fresher perspective so we hired Uzumaki Naruto, the head architect at Konoha corps. to design the building a few months back. We are sorry he could not attend this meeting to present his work himself but he had a few issues to sort out.”

“But-but he’s not the head architect-” Sasuke stutters, his eyes wide as shock began to consume his entire body.

“Yes,” Itachi speaks, “he is, he was appointed a few days before this idea was pitched to him.”

“Right,” Sasuke croaks, “please continue.”

/././.

.

.

.

.

In the end the deal went through and Sasuke is left staring at the table, Naruto’s design staring at him in the face. He’s traced his name on the top of the page again and again until the paper is violently ripped from his hands and Itachi’s frown is bearing down on him.

“What do you want,” Sasuke sighs, slouching in his chair and not even caring if it makes him look like a pouting child; which he isn’t by the way.

“So you left the Uzumaki boy, forgive me, I did not know until your small outburst.” Itachi speaks smoothly.

“Yes well, I had _planned_ on keeping you out of my personal life for the remainder of our time on this earth so forgive me if I didn’t leap for the phone to tell you I left him. But you won’t have to worry anymore; I know how much you _hated_ our relationship, if he’s going to be the one creating the building you won’t have to suffer seeing us together anymore because it’s over. It’s finished and I won’t have any reason to see him anyway since you’re the head of our department. It’s done with Itachi, it’s done.” Sasuke finishes with grit teeth because isn’t this totally embarrassing for a man his age to finish his sentence with a bitten off croak as tears fall without his will down his cheeks. Once they have started however they refuse to stop and Sasuke is left helpless as they spill from his eyes, anger and agonizing pain overwhelming his being as he breaks down in front of the _last_ person he ever wants to see him cry.

Itachi stays blissfully silent as he sobs over his coffee stained documents, cradling his head in his arms as he trembles.

“I never hated your relationship with him you know,” Itachi finally speaks after a few minute, “I never hated him either. If I did, I never would have suggested this project to him.”

Looking up from the cradle of his arms Sasuke blinks up at him in shock, “What?”

Itachi sighs and drops to a chair, throwing Sasuke an exasperated look, “Naruto is brilliant in what he does, when he puts his mind to it. And I recognized the love you two shared long ago; stopped mother from feeding him a particularly lethal piece of chicken a few years back; couldn’t prevent the ramen incident however.” He muses with a fond smile.

He rises from the chair he was sitting in and began to straighten his suit, “A few months ago when the executives from the other company pitched this idea I suggested having an architect design the building, to let them get a feel of what we could accomplish together. So I gave the project to Naruto, who was quickly rising in the ranks and because of the project he was immediately appointed head architect. The boy ran himself ragged, so I had people monitoring him, he would come in very early and leave late at night, working all by himself and living off ramen.” He pulls a face at that.

“But, that can’t be right- Sakura…” Sasuke sputtered.

Itachi blinks very slowly and cocks his head.

“Who?”

“You can’t fool me with this,” Sasuke shakes his head, voice reaching a pitch that one would describe as hysterical, “He must have gotten to you, I don’t know how, but Naruto would never hide something this big from me. He would have been so damn _proud_ and _I_ would have been the first person he called. He used this as an excuse to have an affair. I’ve seen them together, I’m not stupid. I don’t know why you’re covering for him, but it ends now.”

“Sasuke,” Itachi speaks slowly, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course not,” Sasuke sneers, gathering his papers and shoving them into his bag, “I don’t believe this shit, I cannot _believe_ you would be in on this stupid game that idiot is playing.”

“Sasuke, there is no game.”

“I don’t fucking believe you!” Sasuke shouts, “Just get out! I don’t want to see you.”

“Sasuke, you need to start thinking clearly, there is no game and if there was, I am not a part of it. Do you honestly think I would do something like that to you?”

Sasuke bites his lip and turns away.

“Get out.”

Itachi sighs and he reaches for his own bag, “Understand this, little brother. To me, _you_ always come first. And as loath I am to admit it, for that fool, _you_ are his entire reason to even _breathe_.”

He gathers his things and hovers near the door before he pulls it open and gives Sasuke a somber look, “What I said today was true, whether you chose to believe me or not is your choice.”

/././.

.

.

.

.

“Gaara, Shikamaru, Neji, Lee, Ten-Ten, Kiba, Sai, Ino, Sakura,” Suigetsu greets with a nervous sweat, “how can I help you?”

They have him cornered in an abandoned break room, looming over him with determined faces, and in Gaara and Ten-Ten’s case, knives. He closes his eyes and sends a quick prayer to any God that would have him.

“Sasuke and Naruto,” Sakura begins with narrowed green eyes picking him apart cell by cell, “we need to fix this.”

“Be it in blood,” Gaara grins.

“Tears,” Ino chimes.

“Or in never ending happiness.” Lee beams.

Suigetsu sags against the wall, looking up at the homicidal group that made up the couple’s friends, questions his life choices and mourns the moment he decided against a career change. He looks back up into the faces of the people who would do anything to make their friends happy, thinks about Sasuke’s broken face and empty home and smiles weakly, “Thank God _someone_ is getting around to fixing this bitch of a situation.”

“Here’s the plan,” Sakura smiles in approval as she looms closer, “Naruto doesn’t know anything about what’s about to go down and no matter how much we _do_ or _don’t_ like you, unfortunately, you’re going to be in a world of pain.”

“But I- I’m not the other man!” he wails.

“Naruto doesn’t know that,” Neji sniffs.

“Plus, do you _want_ this charade to keep going on?”

“…”

“Didn’t think so.”

“So what’s the plan?” Suigetsu asks, squeezing his eyes shut and praying that he comes out of this alive.

/././.

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	5. Take Me Back to the Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's up for some lemonade?

   

Neji freezes when there is a knock on the door, immediately everyone’s eyes swivel towards the door before they all spring into action, panicking they grab Suigetsu and shove him underneath into the cabinet shutting the door in his face before he could properly yelp. Smoothening out their clothes, they nod at each other, Shikamaru bravely opening the door.

Naruto raises an eyebrow at their far too innocent smiles before shaking his head and shutting the door behind him after Shikamaru lets him in.

“Listen guys,” Naruto calls out, leaning against the closed door and drumming his fingers against the wood. He falls silent for a moment before opening his mouth, but no words come.

“What is it?” Sakura asks frowning when he sighs and runs a hand through his unruly hair, a nervous habit he’d never been able to break.

“I’m disbanding the brain trust.”

“… _what_?!”

“It’s not that you guys aren’t helping me out, which you guys have, seriously, you’ve all helped me so much and there are no words to describe just how amazing you’ve all been. But I’ve been thinking lately-”

“That’s dangerous,” Kiba mutters.

“-Fuck you Kiba,” Naruto grumbles, “As I was saying, I’ve been thinking that since this entire thing started, I’ve been relying on you guys to help me fix this with Sasuke when I should have been doing it all by myself. I mean, it’s mine and Sasuke’s relationship; I should have been trying to fix this myself from the start. I should have never involved anyone; it’s something I have to do alone.”

“…Well,” Ino starts, “I guess-”

“Naruto,” Gaara cuts her off, “before anything happens, before you walk out that door, I want you to answer a few things first.”

“What is it?”

“Do you love Sasuke?”

“Of _course_ I-!”

“You’re not listening,” Gaara says, stepping forward and taking Naruto by the shoulders, aquamarine eyes searching his.

“Do you _love_ Sasuke? Was all of this because you _truly_ love him? Or was it just because now that he’s leaving you your knee jerk reaction is to do anything in your power to get him back?”

“Knee-jerk reaction?”

“Sasuke’s left once before, are you sure you’re not regressing back to the time you traveled all the way to California to get him? Naruto,” Gaara’s voice drops lower, his face no longer blank, but full of emotions that Naruto had never thought him capable of, “Do you _really_ love him?”

Naruto closes his eyes, thinks of long winter nights curled around Sasuke and blankets on their couch, his nose buried in Sasuke’s neck as pale fingers trace each and every inch of his body, soft laughter when he used to kiss Sasuke on all the right spots. The soft gasps and almost silent pleas for more when they moved together, joined as one and the feel of Sasuke’s nails digging into his back whenever Naruto moves and hits that one spot that makes Sasuke’s toes curl and his head fall back.

The look in Sasuke’s eyes waking up on lazy Sundays, a small smile curling at the edges of his lips when Naruto kisses him softly; the huffs of exasperation when Naruto accidently sets their stove on fire and the roll of his eyes whenever Naruto says something cheeky. Naruto thinks of all those moments, thinks of the time he sprained his ankle at work and Sasuke had come rushing over, and angry but relieved scowl on his face when he drives them home, never leaves his side for the entire time and Naruto just barely managing to convince him that he didn’t need to go to the hospital.

Naruto thinks of the bursts of warmth, of the anger and of the happiness they had and thinks of nothing else but Sasuke.

He opens his eyes, holds Gaara’s gaze and nods.

“Yes, I do.”

Gaara nods back, drops his hands from his shoulders and takes a step back.

“Naruto, we’re your friends,” Sakura says, approaching with something in her eyes that might have been a tear, “We love the both of you, and you need to understand that we are here to help because that’s what we’re here for.” She smiles then, tugs on his hair and cups his cheek. “Let us help you one last time, okay?”

“…okay,” he smiles, “What do you need me to do?”

“Go get my coat from the car.”

“…and how is that supposed to help?”

“Just do it, then you can go meet Sasuke in the conference room and let it all out.”

Confused he nods, “okay then, I’ll be right back.”

With that he turns and opens the door before slipping out and down the hall, a skip in his step.

“…When this is all over,” Neji suddenly speaks, a flush on his cheek and a gleam in his eye as he towers over Gaara, “I am not going to get you out of the fucking bedroom for an entire week.”

Gaara grins, “Liked my display did you?”

“You showed so much emotion I’m seriously jealous right now, Shikamaru, back me up here.”

“Ugh,” Ten-ten groans, “seriously you guys not here.”

“So what’s going to happen now?” Ino speaks up, cringing when Neji inches a bit closer to a grinning Gaara.

“Get that idiot out of the cabinet,” Sakura calls out, “We proceed with the plan, and after this we all go to the bar and get so fucking wasted.”

“Before or after we take Suigetsu to the hospital?”

“Hospital?” he yelps.

“Before, I have a feeling he’s going to need it.”

They all stare down Suigetsu with grins.

“May the force be with you.”

/./.

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.

.

The door creaks open and Sasuke swivels around to see Suigetsu emerge from the bright hallway, looking a bit worse for wear. His tie was hanging limply and undone, his hair in disarray and his top three buttons were popped open. His face was paler than Sasuke had ever seen it and he wonders briefly if he had gotten into the cappuccinos again. His eyes narrow when Suigetsu locks the door behind him.

“What is it?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

Suigetsu purses his lips, takes a deep breath and stalks over to him.

“Suigetsu?” Sasuke blinks and takes a few steps back, only to hit the board meeting table with his hips, “Suigetsu what’s-?”

“I love you Sasuke!” Suigetsu suddenly yells, effectively scaring the living shit out of Sasuke, “I love you so much let’s fuck on this table! Right now!” With that he bolts forward and shoves Sasuke right onto the table eyes wild and Sasuke is promptly creeped the fuck out. Before he could scream however the door is shoved violently kicked down and lo and behold, Naruto is crowding the doorway, nearly over taking the entire door frame with his presence alone. His face is a picture of righteous fury and his eyes are electric slits of blue and Sasuke has never felt more aroused and frightened at the same time when those eyes lock onto him. Of course there’s still the matter of Suigetsu’s suspiciously frozen form and he flicks his eyes to Suigetsu’s face and he’s pretty sure he could hear him muttering a prayer under his breath.

Without a word or a sound Naruto stalks forward, footsteps heavy and purposeful on the cold carpet floor and the next thing Sasuke knows Suigetsu is sailing across the room, smashing over the table and into the chairs on the other side. Sasuke scrambles to get up, to put a stop to this but Naruto wasn’t done yet, shrugs off Sasuke’s searching hand and jumps onto the table, making a grab for the flailing pale boy.

“Stop it!” Sasuke yells, “Jesus, fuck! Stop it, Naruto!”

But Naruto either refuses to listen or is truly blinded by rage and Sasuke has never seen him this angry since the time he kicked down the door that day in California when they were sixteen, half-starved and determined to bring Sasuke home. Naruto gets his hands on Suigetsu and the man is scrambling to get away, kicks out at Naruto’s knees and lands a punch on his face. Naruto snarls and head butts him in retaliation, hauls him to his feet to land a solid punch on his stomach.

Now, Sasuke is no damsel in distress; if someone is in trouble and is at a disadvantage, there’s no way he would stand off to the side lines and hope for the best. So he picks up a chair and throws it as hard as he can at Naruto, effectively throwing the guy off balance and dislodging Suigetsu from his grip. He shoots forward, grabs his friend by the arm and shoves him to the door.

“Get the fuck back here!” Naruto roars, picking himself off the ground and glaring fire and brimstone at the retreating man, “I’m not fucking done with you!”

“Stop it!” Sasuke yells back, “Don’t you _fucking_ touch him!”

“I will rip his fucking _limbs off_ , Sasuke! He has _no_ fucking right to touch you!” Naruto screams and it’s at this point that Sasuke nearly falls over in shock. Tears are welled up in Naruto’s angry blue eyes and it was the most beautiful and frightening thing he’s ever seen. “You’re the love of my fucking _life,_ Sasuke! You’re what keeps me breathing on this god forsaken planet and you expect me to let this guy walk away with his _life_ after seeing him touch you?! You expect me to not do anything when I hear him proclaim a mockery of love to you?! Fuck that!” Naruto yells.

“What about Sakura?!” Sasuke yells back, shoving Suigetsu through the broken door way and whipping around to face Naruto dead on, “You’ve been fucking her behind my back for over half a year now! And yet you preach of love, loyalty and marriage! Eat your fucking words Naruto because you’re a fucking liar!”

“What the _fuck_ are you talking about? I’ve been loyal to you the moment I kissed you when we were sixteen, I have not even _glanced_ at another person since you kissed me back, what makes you think I was having an _affair_?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you got this project from Itachi?” Sasuke bites, “Why didn’t you tell me anything that was happening with you? Why didn’t you tell me you were living off of nothing but ramen for months?! You claim your life was mine and mine was yours! And yet you hide the _most_ important part of it! You preach of equality, love and _trust_ in this relationship but you’re the one keeping secrets!” Sasuke pants, eyes piercing the damned thrice love of his life with pain filled eyes, searching desperately for the truth.

“I-I didn’t want you to worry,” Naruto protests, “I knew I keeping it a secret may not have been the smartest thing but I was honestly hoping to…” he trails off, grunts in frustration and runs his hands through his air in agitation, “I just can’t wrap my mind around that fact that you thought I was having an affair.”

“What was I supposed to think, Naruto?!” Sasuke yells, throwing his hands up in the air, “Do you have any idea what I went through? I waited up for you most nights until 4 a.m. only to have you not come home at all! I stayed in a cold empty bed hoping that when I woke up you’d be there beside me but you weren’t! The most I heard from you was ‘I’m working late at the office,’ or ‘I won’t make it to dinner,’! Whenever I tried going there to see you all I got were bull-shit excuses for not being allowed in to see you and whenever I tried to call you were always in a meeting! You never put effort into seeing me anymore so I started doing the same and look where it landed us! With an empty apartment neither of us occupied and you never even noticed because you weren’t there!” He shoots forward, emphasizing every word with a shove to the blonde’s chest, “You. Were. Never. There!”

“Sasuke-!”

“And then!” he shouts, “and then I end it and you preach of refusing to let me go! You use your friends to try and win me over by sending flowers and paintings and just when I begin to think that maybe they _do_ mean something you go and show up with _Sakura_! Fucking _flaunt_ her in my face and it was all a lie wasn’t it Naruto!?”  Sasuke accuses, “Everything was falling apart so I fucking ended it because this,” he gestures between them, “This wasn’t fucking working, because you kept so many things from me and look where it got us! Screaming at each other and trying to fix something that was broken long ago and-!”

“ **I didn’t want you to leave me behind**!” Naruto screams, voice reaching decibels Sasuke didn’t think he was capable of, effectively making Sasuke fall into bewildered silence.

“Look around you, Sasuke,” Naruto shouts, “This is all practically _yours_ or it will be in a few short years! You were always smarter, always better at _everything_ and you’re about to become the CEO of a great company, you were going to be the fucking _King_. All you needed was this deal to come through, and then the world is fucking _yours_. I knew it before you did because Itachi told me; he abandoned his rights to this place when he ran off. You were _devastated_ , Sasuke, and when he came back and retook his place you worked even _harder_ and do you understand how hard that was for me to see that? I was just this shitty architect, hardly _worthy_ of your fucking time much less your affections, Sasuke; compared to you I was _nothing_. And everything your family had always said was true.”

He licks his lips and angrily rubs at his eyes, tries to put into words years of pain into one moment, “I was always running after you, Sasuke,” he croaks, “Everything you wanted you had, and if you didn’t you worked to get it. I was _nothing_ compared to you, a struggling architect that worked just as hard to finally be _equal_ to you. I wanted to stand by your side, to help you with your dream and to be able to _proudly_ stand next to you with accomplishments of my own.”

He takes a shuddering breath and tries to make Sasuke understand, he takes a step forward and pleads with not only his words but his eyes, “When Itachi approached me that day I was nearly at the end of my rope, no one would take me seriously in the office, I was always the underdog fighting to get to the top and everybody shoved me down. I felt like I wasn’t enough for you Sasuke, that while you were accomplishing everything you dreamed of I was the one lagging behind. So when Itachi gave the project to me it all became clear. If I did a perfect job designing this building for you and the other corp. it would mean that _both_ of our dreams would be finally reached. I wanted to surprise you; I kept it from you because I wanted you to be _proud_ of me and my accomplishments. I designed that building to be the vision of our future, I’m sorry I neglected you, I’m sorry if you felt that I didn’t love you but it was just as hard on me as it was for you. Do you have _any_ idea how much it hurt to leave you all by yourself? To lie to you?”

He stalks forward and reaches for Sasuke’s hand, beseeching eyes searching for Sasuke’s, “But I had to, I told myself that when this was all over, when I was _finally_ your equal that it would all pay off. That we’d get married and everything would be perfect because we’d have everything we ever wanted. So I didn’t return your phone calls, made excuses, worked so hard I fainted more than once from fatigue and tried so hard to keep it all from you and I’m so fucking _sorry_ that you thought I didn’t love you. I tried, Sasuke, I tried so hard to win you back. You have _no_ idea how hard it was for me to not fucking completely decimate that fucking asshole you traded me for. I had _dreams_ of ripping him limb from limb. The only thing keeping me sane was the thought of you coming to your senses and realizing how much I really love you. I called everyone, rounded them up and they all tried helping me get you back, suggested the flowers, the paintings- hell, I went all the way to France, dropped on my knees and begged everyone from that stupid place to give me _one_ box of that chocolate you like so much. I literally sat there and even offered to suck every single person’s cock if it meant getting a box.”

“You didn’t.” Sasuke pulled a face, lips thinning in anger.

“No,” Naruto shook his head, “I didn’t have to blow a bunch of dudes, and thankfully they took pity on me after half a day on my knees and sent me on my way with an entire box perfectly wrapped and everything. But the point is, Sasuke that I love you, I would do anything for you and you can’t imagine what these few weeks have been like for me. I slept on your side of the bed just so I could catch a scent of you, I fucking went out and bought your favorite cologne just so I could feel like you were lying right next to me but nothing worked. I missed you so fucking much.” His shoulders drooped and he crumbled to his knees, pressed his forehead into Sasuke’s stomach and buried his face into his navel; wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s waist and held on for dear life.

“I love you Sasuke,” he sobbed, “I loved you then and I still love you now and fuck, _please_ forgive me for shutting you out for so long but please believe me when I say I never intended to make you feel unloved, unwanted and abandoned.”

Sasuke shut his eyes against his own tears, burning in his eye lids and reached down, ran his trembling hands through Naruto’s hair, choked back his own sob when Naruto tightened his hold on him, felt his shuddering breath against his navel and knew that even if his entire family walked through the door it wouldn’t be enough to make him let go. He pulls him back by gently tugging on his soft blonde locks, and drops to his knees, cups Naruto’s cheeks in his shaking hands and searches his watery eyes with his own. In that moment, nothing but them existed; nothing else mattered but the sight of Naruto before him, the scent that wafted from him and his warmth that enveloped Sasuke’s entire body, warmed him through the skin, the tissue, the muscles and reaching far beyond his bones. It warmed him to the core and for the first time in weeks Sasuke could _breathe_ he could _exist_ and he could _live_.

A fire ignites within him, burns him from the inside out and he could hardly believe such a fire could exist inside his skin. He surges forward and presses his lips hard against Naruto’s, nearly sobs at the electricity that surges through him from the press of their lips, bites down hard on Naruto’s lip as he kisses back with equal fever. Barely pulls back to breathe before he’s tearing at Naruto’s clothes, wants to press his flesh against this embodiment of perfection with his tan skin, blue eyes and ice melting warmth. Naruto rips his shirt open, sucks hard on the span of his neck, leaves his mark anywhere on any alabaster pale skin he can reach, worries his flesh with his teeth and nearly chokes back a sob at the moans Sasuke lets out. Presses closer, runs his hands over the expanse of Sasuke’s exposed chest as Sasuke tears Naruto’s shirt at the seams, buttons flying in his need to get his hands on Naruto’s flesh. He runs his hands down Naruto’s chest, his tattered shirt hanging off tan shoulders. Sasuke throws his head back and doesn’t even try to muffle his loud moans when Naruto bends to takes a nipple into his mouth, arches into his touch when frantic fingers begin working on the clasp of his belt. Fingers get caught in his zipper and he reaches down to help, hisses and moans when Naruto’s large, warm hand finds his cock through the fabric of his boxers, palms him through that thin barrier and he urges Naruto on his harsh breaths.

“I love you,” Naruto confesses into his ear, nibbles on his neck and leaves another mark.

Sasuke takes his hand, pushes it lower and under the elastic band of his boxers until he’s choking back a rather loud moan when he presses Naruto’s hand against the heated flesh of his cock. He throws his head back and he’s nearly struck dumb at the intensity of Naruto’s gaze upon him. Naruto’s eyes are feral, dark with lust but bursting with so much emotion that Sasuke is left breathless; he presses Naruto’s hand harder against his throbbing groin, curls his Naruto’s fingers around his throbbing flesh and guides his hand up and down, moaning when Naruto’s hand tightens just a bit.

“Tell me what you want,” Naruto breathes, not breaking his gaze from Sasuke’s, “tell me what you want, I’ll give it to you, I’ll lay the world at your feet. What do you want?”

“I-I want,” Sasuke attempts, voice cutting off into a mewl from the pleasure coursing through him as they pump their hands together over his shaft, Naruto’s thumb flicking over its head and smearing pre-come around and around, nails scraping gently over the underside of the thick vein, bringing Sasuke closer and closer to the edge.

“Fuck!” Sasuke gasps, hips jutting up and down in time with their hands, other hand reaching up and fisting what’s left of Naruto’s shirt in his hand as he searches for something to hold on to because _fuck_ has it been a while and the heat that’s building in the pit of his stomach is close to exploding.

“Tell me,” Naruto nearly begs as he speeds their hands up, “tell me what you want.”

“You!” Sasuke sobs as he comes violently, body seizing as he begins to ride the powerful waves of his orgasm. He forces his eyes open, witnesses the overwhelming emotion of happiness that radiates from Naruto’s eyes as he comes undone, body twitching as he comes all over their hands and his belly. He sags and nearly tumbles down onto his back before Naruto is reaching up and kissing him. He holds him up and Sasuke watches him, skin flushed and in a trance like state as Naruto lifts his hands from Sasuke’s cock, his seed dribbling down his fingers before Naruto sucks one into his mouth.

“Never,” Naruto rumbles as he sucks another soiled finger into his mouth, “I’ll never tire of this, of your taste of your love, of _you_.”

Sasuke whimpers when Naruto’s tongue flicks out over his wrist, catching a stray droplet and moaning at his taste. Almost immediately his cock twitches and he finds the strength to reach forward, to work on the belt and zipper of Naruto’s pants and he’s so damn impatient, so fucking _done_ with waiting that he doesn’t even get the button undone, reaches in through the zipper and shoves the elastic of Naruto’s boxers down the best he can and frees Naruto’s cock. It’s hard, painfully so and Sasuke wastes no time in running his tongue from the bottom to the tip, smirking when Naruto jerks and hisses, reaching down to tangle his hand into Sasuke’s midnight hair.

“Holy fuck!” Naruto gasps as Sasuke takes the base of his cock into his hand before taking him as deep into his mouth, moaning at the familiar stretch of his mouth as he tries to take him all in. Spit dribbles down the side of his mouth as he bobs his head up and down, uses his tongue and tastes the very essence of the man he’s always loved, now and forever; scrapes his teeth gently on the underside of the blonde’s cock, uses every trick in the book that has Naruto a mess of incoherent babble and praises. Naruto’s hands dig in his hair, pulls it at the roots and Sasuke bites gently in retaliation.

“Stop!” Naruto chokes, “Stop I want- fuck- I want to be inside you,” he begs, “please let me be inside you, I _need_ -!” he voice dissolves into desperate gasps as Sasuke only takes him in deeper, moans and holds Naruto’s hips down when he tries to thrust.

“Please, Sasuke,” Naruto begs once more, “please!”

Sasuke pulls away, Naruto’s hips jerking at the loss of warmth and Sasuke licks his lips, tares at Naruto’s pants and kisses him hard. Naruto’s breath is harsh against his lips, teeth nipping hard and moving desperately against him.

“Hurry up, then,” Sasuke growls, “hurry up don’t make me wait.”

“Never,” Naruto hisses as he undoes the rest of his pants, kicking them and what’s left of his shirt off, reaches for Sasuke’s half undone and soiled pants, “Never going to make you wait ever again.” Sasuke hisses and shoves his pants away, pulls Naruto down on top of him and bites his lip.

“Promise me,” he hisses as Naruto shoves his legs apart and settling between them, spreading his thighs and hooking one over his waist, “Promise me you’ll never look at anyone else ever again, that you won’t ever leave me behind, won’t ever keep anything from me.”

“I promise,” Naruto pants, “Fuck, I promise Sasuke.”

He’s desperately hard, thrusts his cock against Sasuke’s in hopes of relieving the ache of not coming quick enough, moaning at the same time as Sasuke, their voices harmonizing as their pleasure builds. Naruto stills with effort, pulls Sasuke into a long hard kiss and tries to pull back only to have Sasuke try to force him back down.

“Lube,” Naruto gasps, “In my pocket, I need to get it.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you get it before you dropped your pants?” Sasuke protests.

“I could only think about you,” Naruto confesses, “Lube was the farthest thing from my mind.” He reaches up and unhooks Sasuke’s hands from around his neck and kisses him one last time before scurrying away to reach his prize, fights his unhelpful clothes for the small tube he brought with him before racing back to Sasuke. Kisses him in hello, and takes Sasuke’s harsh nip of punishment to his bottom lip as encouragement and pulls his pale thighs apart once more. He opens the cap of the lube and smears a good amount onto his fingers; glances up as he traces the pink rim of Sasuke’s hole with a finger, smiles at how Sasuke jerks into his touch. When he breaches him gently with his first finger Sasuke tries to pull him deeper with his hips, moves up and down until Naruto adds another.

“Hurry up,” Sasuke pants.

Naruto chuckles, curls his fingers to strike that special spot and bites his lip to keep from moaning out loud as Sasuke throws his head back, eyes blown wide as pleasure takes him over. He adds a third finger, stretches them wide and Sasuke’s a near mess in his arms, flushed skin and long limbs with a beautiful heart. Sasuke reaches down, pulls Naruto’s hand away by the wrist and Naruto is shaking with anticipation. Nights spent alone in a big bed that no longer smelt of Sasuke had taken its toll on Naruto, the emptiness of the bed robbing him of his libido and any drive to take pleasure in his own hand. Naruto plants a hand by Sasuke’s head, uses his other to hitch Sasuke’s leg over his waist as he moves into position, refuses to look away from Sasuke’s face as he slowly pushes in.

It’s perfect in all the ways imaginable; the tight heat the envelopes Naruto whole, sucks him in deep and Naruto nearly sobs when he bottoms out. Fills Sasuke to the brim and he’s never felt more loved then at this moment, his eyes never leaving Sasuke’s as he stays agonizingly still, chest heaving as pleasure rids him of any thought other than Sasuke. Sasuke pants with him, dusty pink staining his flesh and he’s so full, feels complete for the first time in so long; he reaches down and takes Naruto’s hand that has a death grip on his thigh, twines their hands together and pulls him closer.

Naruto closes his eyes, small tears making their way to the surface as Sasuke takes his other hand, until both their hands are laced and held on each side of Sasuke’s head. His hips shudder and Sasuke lets out a small gasp, each tiny movement sending electricity throughout his entire body, from the roots of his hair all the way to his toes.

“Open your eyes,” Sasuke manages, “Open them and look at me; only me.”

Naruto pries his eyes open and gazes down at the love of his life, rolls his hips against Sasuke’s, causes his breath to hitch.

“Only you,” Naruto promises as he finally begins to move, “Only you.”

There is no talking after that as both dissolve into pleasured moans and desperate cries as Naruto thrusts against Sasuke, moves him in ways he hasn’t in weeks. Comes home in ways they both haven’t in so long and they both cry as the pleasure builds, they tear at the seams, two becoming one as they move against each other, a dance that had never been forgotten. Neither think, neither dare stop and their chests are heaving, hands holding each other in tight grips, lips meeting again and again and eyes never leaving the other as they lose themselves to each other. Sasuke cries out Naruto’s name in desperation, arches his back and pleads for it to never end, begs Naruto to never look away as they come together, Naruto kissing him hard and holding him close as the world shatters around them, the stars exploding and the sky falling.

And together they fall.

/././.

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**Author's Note:**

> If anyone is interested I have a Tumblr account: beyond-these-colors.tumblr.com


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